"Shirlee," I said, grabbing he shoulder and turning her around. "I know you want to help this girl. I do too. And at this point, we're going to have to. All I'm saying is that once we find a safe place for her to be, we drop her. Deal?"

We got back to Eliza, and I decided to take lead. w"Uh, hi," I stumbled. "Well, We haven't had a proper introduction. I'm Kyle, and this is Shirlee. To be honest we have no idea what we're doing. So, uh, onto adventure!...or something like that."

We walked util we were all tired which was about dark as we found an established campground. Nobody was there because it was too late in the year for any campers or rangers even. Eliza fell asleep at a picnic table as I looked through my mostly demolished backpack for something to eat.